First, I would like to communicate how pleased I am that this
assembly was established and secondly I commend all the volunteer
members who have so generously donated their time and wisdom to a
very important process to reinvigorate democracy in this
province.
Although I have no formal training in political science, I am
politically active and have some awareness of the issues around how
we elect our political representatives. It is my
opinion that many have become disillusioned with the political
process for a number of reasons but one in particular, is that some
feel their vote is cheated by the first past the post
system. This is particularly glaring when you have a
party that loses the majority yet wins enough constituencies to
form government. Or in the case of smaller parties,
those that earn a percentage of the total votes yet see no
representation on the legislature. This often leads to
strategic voting, voting an individual or party OUT (instead of
voting FOR) or abandonment of franchise. On the other hand I
believe regional interests are important and need to be
represented.
My vision of an electoral system would combine both and would work
something like this:
-
The number of seats in the legislature is correlated to the
population
-
Constituencies are retained although the boundaries may need to
be adjusted
-
The parties still run candidates in each constituency (the
smaller parties can choose to run candidates in the constituencies
where they can)
-
The total provincial vote determines the number of seats
allocated to each party
-
The parties fill those seats with the members that have earned
the highest percentage of their regional (constituency)
vote. In the case where a party has earned several
seats but not 'won' any constituency, then the party should choose
the candidate that has earned the most votes (or the party
leader)
-
Independents that win their constituency win a seat in the
legislature
-
Voters have the option of grading their ballots, that is
choosing first, second, and third choices of
candidates. Those numbers are formulated into a score
that determines the outcome of the number of seats allocated to
each party.
I hope I have articulated my vision of an improved electoral
system with enough clarity that the members of this assembly will
be able to get the gist of what I have attempted to
communicate. Please contact me should you need any
clarification or if I have not followed the approved procedure.
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